The forward line justifiably attracts most of criticism in the team, but the most glaring concern for me is how Celtic are in possession in the middle of the park. Too often at Dens on Sunday, we were unable to string five passes together, players were uncomfortable on the ball and resorted to speculative forward plays which inevitably ended in lost possession.
The surface and environment can have an impact. Four of remaining six league games are at Celtic Park, while the Scottish Cup semifinal is on the equally good pitch at Hampden. Callum McGregor was fit enough to complete the Dundee game, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played over an hour; Martin even had enough options to leave Reo Hatate on the bench.
A Celtic win aside, the key metric I will measure tomorrow is how we take the ball out of defence and progress it through the St Mirren press. Teams who do this control play and inoculate themselves from random results. Get this right and the forward line will make chances and score goals.
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Equally good pitch at Hampden?
If so, our head groundsman should be sacked
🫣🤔😜
Always start Reo..like tom Rogic. Some days, a man down, others a genuis.
Agree with your assessment of our ball retention at Dens Park, Paul.
It should not be lost though that we created very decent scoring chances both from long balls over the press and by regaining possession in Dundee’s half.
Surely the team selection and set up has something to do with our inability to spring a few passes together? And the coaching sessions during the week? Why is 433 with two mediocre wingers sacrosanct? Why not play 4 in midfield and two up front to ensure we are not left looking lightweight? Play Saracchi in midfield?
I would have hoped MoN and Shaun would have shown a willingness to try something different rather than just shuffle the starting XI every week.
Celtic will face St Mirren in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final at Barclays Hampden on Sunday, April 19 (kick-off 2pm).
We have received more tickets for the semi-final and these are on sale, subject to availability, on a first-come first-served basis to all Season Ticket holders who have yet to purchase a ticket for the match.
Der Hun shittin themselves, again today. Naderi and Rommens both crocked indefinitely and Stirling’s (sic) gettin the jail.
Watch our winning goal again at the weekend. Calmac pointing and shouting for the ball to be played back yet again. Luke ignores him works the ball across and forward to saraachi who crosses for Iheanacho winner. This is the 3rd time we have scored this season whilst Calmac is pointing for the ball to go back to the centrebacks. If only we ignored him more often
Some guys don’t want Andy Robertson….Ralston,Donovan,Murray,Balikwisha, Adamu,Mvuka,Welsh,Nawrocki, a squad full of waifs and strays
Wake up and smell the coffee…
Broadsword calling Danny boy
Broadsword calling Danny boy
“Get this right and the forward line will make chances and score goals.”
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Really?
From Newsnow Celtic. – could be bollox of course
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Hearts are looking to become the first non-Old Firm team to win the Scottish Premiership title since Sir Alex Ferguson achieved the feat in 1985 with Aberdeen, although they may need to do it without one of their key players.
Midfielder Tomas Magnusson is struggling with a thigh injury that is threatening to end his season early, with the player set to have an injection to see if it can help him play again before the end of the campaign.
Speaking about the issue, McInnes said:
“I didn’t want to dwell on bad news last week. It’s not looking good for him.
“He’s going to get an injection on Friday just to see how it is. The scan doesn’t look great. The likelihood is he could miss the season, then that will be the headline. I don’t really want it to be. There’s a chance he might not be able to play again this season.”
As a principle … I am largely against signing 30-somethings on a “coming home” basis.
That said?
Andy Robertson has just turned 32 years old
(9 months younger than Callum)
IMHO …
We are short of leadership in the dressing room
AND
We are short of exemplars who’ve lived footballing excellence at the very highest level.
If Andy is available to us at a rate we can afford?
And we can get 3,000 minutes a season each out of Andy and Kieran (sometimes playing together, sometimes separately)
While identifying and quietly cultivating our long term left back candidate?
I’d sign Andy Robertson.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL on 10TH APRIL 2026 12:33 PM
“Get this right and the forward line will make chances and score goals.”
—————-
Really?
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I agree with your lack of confidence there but will feel a lot more confident if we can get a good run of games from Ineanacho.
Big question for me is do we start him or bring him on as an impact sub?
Same goes for Tounekti.
“Iheanacho” 🤷♂️
I’d take Robertson in a heartbeat.
Many Liverpool fans online yesterday describing him as the best LB they’ve ever had.
Of course ,he’s past his peak but still absolutely worth a punt.
Liverpool spent £40 million on Kerkez to replace him,ask Liverpool fans who they would have in the team now
If we were to sign AR who would be accountable for the decision? I’m sure P67 would slaughter them for purchasing with no sell on value. A departure from our sourcing strategy 😄
Our player trading model continues to be fairly unique.
Wonder if this will improve ahead of next season?
Wonder if CQN cares?
Pay a class player like Andy, 50k a week for a couple of seasons (circa KT ‘s salary) and it is a no brainer. A player who is still top EPL/CL quality for an outlay of around 5 million sounds like smart business to me. Or would be rather leave it in the bank? Or worse still piss it away on players like Adamu and Mvuka?
My youngest, now Australia based, son is due home at lunchtime tomorrow and is going to the game with his two brothers for the first time in around 5 yrs. I’ll be very interested in his thoughts on this Celtic team versus the last one he saw live.
The Battered Bunnet on 10th April 2026 9:13 am
A quiet morning.
Andy Robertson has had a marvellous career. He could only have dreamed of it when we sent him packing as a 15 year old. But as a rule, I’m not into 30-something players coming to the club for a last hurrah. We’re not an eventide home for former greats, and Andy was formerly a great player.
Willie Haughey’s project for me highlights the fractured nature of the support. I’m assuming he’s spoken with David Low – a former copain in the great war of liberation – and didn’t like what he heard, or vice versa. Either way, two projects with the same objective working in competition seems somewhat counterproductive.
Statler&WaldorfCSC
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Willie Haughey has a far great profile, plus he has the finance to back the ‘initiative’. I’ll support both groups. Hopefully the over all (same) objective is achieved.
Robertson would be a a tremendous signing for us 🤞
Hopefully there’s a buzz around the stadium tomorrow 😁
Denia, I’m sure Michael will be phoning Peter to get clarification on that one, after all he was responsible for all our success.
Paul 67
“…speculative forward plays which inevitably ended in lost possession.”
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How about playing with 2 strikers which increases the options to hit?
Playing with 1 easily marked striker, and 2 easily double marked wingers, in every game, it was only a matter of time before that approach got sussed out.
When it did get sussed out Rodgers had Zero answers vs Aberdeen SCF, Kiarat CLQ, also against Russell Martin, Barry Ferguson in the £56 ticket Old Firm games.
Failing to learn from week to week that Celtic teams play with 2 strikers and play long counter attacking balls like everybody else, started when Rodgers_1 appeared and no one has reversed this into a common sense approach which could trip us up again, and again, with no manager learning from week to week which is unprofessional.
I too would like Robertson if it wasn’t for our track record of Keane wright Ljungberg Dublin Cole Iheanacho and ox all signed on huge wages and all were or are bit part players.
The troll who told you about the £49 – £56 old firm ticket stitch up, is now telling you about the Sir/Lord Haughey trap.
Amazing eh.
Sad are the homes where learning is off limits….
AJ,Engels,Osmand trained with first team today
AJ Engels & Osmand all trained with first team
Bada Bing @ Lennoxtown CSC
Furkan Gözükara
Absolute bombshell. UK PM Keir Starmer confirms he is actively coordinating with Donald Trump to build a massive 30 nation military coalition to force open the Strait of Hormuz. They are using the ceasefire as a cover to prepare for a massive escalation against Iran.
https://nitter.net/FurkanGozukara/status/2042571062823604513#m
The Fools, The Fools, The Fools.
Sad are the homes….
Aroujo out for the season
We now have 2 games in 8 days which will go a long way to determine our season, both against the “baddies”, now I call them that as I was once informed by someone who sat around the main table in the parkheid boardroom that there were 2 clubs in Scotland, 1872 notwithstanding, who would NEVER sell us players, St Mirren and Dundee.
When I pushed back a bit with the 2 Franks, McAvennie and McGarvey, I was reminded that was after they had left them and we were able to sign them from West Ham and Liverpool respectively, even when I pushed a bit further at the hampden in the sun hero Sammy Wilson, we had got him on a free, and there was nae chance we would get Frank McDougall, like the other 3, a boyhood Tim who was sold to the Sheep, a move that would come back to haunt us.
There was also an Icelandic player tottie beck who was signed by the baddies during a wave of Scandinavian players coming to Scotland, at the time he was an alleged prodigious goal scorer and was raved about, but on arrival only managed 35 goals in 110 games, it seems he was also on 100 county downs a week which was a hell of a lot of money back then, which the baddies struggled NOT just to pay but also justify, so they were looking to offload him, but to who.
Now I had a very good friend who worked as a copy boy at the time with one of the nationals and this is what he told me, Scotland’s biggest local home builder, owned by the at the time chairman of 1872, were allegedly looking for zoning changes in Renfrewshire, so, again seemingly, approached the council and were advised they would do so but only if they bought beck from the baddies.
Again allegedly 1872 broke their own transfer record in what was seen as a scoop at the time, but he only scored 2 goals in 14 games before moving to Rouen in France, 1 goal in 7 games, finally crossing the Atlantic to St Louis All Stars, 2 goals in 11 games, before disappearing from the game, his greatest claim to fame in Bonnie Scotland was he managed tae get the wee mhan sent off after he needled him that much that Jinky eventually retaliated which saw him heading for the wee ten thirty and Paddy Crerand exit door for transgressions against the same side, until Jock eventually rescued him as he was on the verge of being sold to Spurs.
As for the city of “jute, jam and journalism”, the latter who were non-union and also had the same employment policy as 1872 used tae have, their main club also had nae time for us, that is until they sold us Tommy Coyne, prior to that they sold Stevie Murray tae the sheep where we managed tae get him from, as well as WGS who the Big Mhan coveted, but by the time we tried to sign him sir furious wisnae for budging, like he did with Frank McDougall.
They have always had a contentious relationship with us which included an executive who had a relationship with 1872 and continually bad mouthed our support, as I said nae freens of oors.
Think the horse that won there might get put down….
the Bada Bing on 10th April 2026 2:19 pm
Aroujo out for the season.
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He disappeared after his antics in the tunnel after we put the Huns out of the SC at Ibrox, goading Hun animal fans to come into the tunnel for a square go.
Play a flat back 4 whose job is to clear their lines with immediate effect playing long and direct up to our 2 strikers always keeping the opposition on the backfoot.
Flat means sitting just outside the 18 yard and not moving out of position.
MON had to do this back in the day when we went a full calendar year without defeating McLiesh’s Huns and we mugged them at Ibrox 1-2 as the Hun front 3 could not get in behind our sitting flat back 4 to do all of their diving into the box theatrics.
If MON had kept the flat back 4 in Seville a month later we might have defeated Porto who played the same formation, tactics, diving, cheating, etc, like the Huns did.
Who knows were we might have been today if MON stuck to his flat back 4?!
Sad are the homes where managers never learn….
Too often at Dens on Sunday, we were unable to string five passes together, players were uncomfortable on the ball and resorted to speculative forward plays which inevitably ended in lost possession.
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but sure, this is what the blogger world and the constant grumblers wanted, the ball moved quickly up the park, keeping the ball, retaining possession, passing backwards until you find the precise channel which is open to make a chance,
well all that horseshoe football does is create a massive best ever goal difference and it is boring (copyright the celtic way purists)
lets all rejoice in the excitement of a championship which is a mere bagatelle of who is the least shite.
look at that PSG 2ND GOAL OTHER NIGHT, 27 PASSES TO SCORE A GOAL, BUT THEY TOLD US “POSSESSION FOOTBALL2 IS DEAD/
I MANAGED TO DELTE THE CRITICAL WORLDS, LOSING ALL EFFECT OF THE POST TRIES AGAIN..
but sure, this is what the blogger world and the constant grumblers wanted, the ball moved quickly up the park, you know the exact opposite of
keeping the ball, retaining possession, passing backwards until you find the precise channel which is open to make a chance,
Celtic will face St Mirren in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final at Barclays Hampden on Sunday, April 19 (kick-off 2pm).
We have received more tickets for the semi-final and these are on sale, subject to availability, on a first-come first-served basis to all Season Ticket holders who have yet to purchase a ticket for the match.
We are pleased to confirm that the Season Ticket holder detailed below is eligible to purchase a ticket for this match, available online only.
the Bada Bing on 10th April 2026 2:17 pm
AJ,Engels,Osmand trained with first team today
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Is this confirmed, BB ?
If so, brilliant news.
Quality analysis paul67 – we’ve struggled to pass all season. F me DUFC was dire. You know those games when every pass hits Daizen’s shin and bounces to Artemis 2!
They’re playing in Glasgow in October – don’t miss it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ssi-9wS1so&list=RDEM8fnbOb7oXZO7TYaks_3WKQ&start_radio=1
Hoop hoop Hooray on 10th April 2026 2:13 pm
I too would like Robertson (42) because we have a record through our history of signing older players with experience who get you over the line.
If your old enough, you are experienced enough. In no particular order, but they all contribute in winning things.
Joe Hart – 34
Ronnie Simpson – 34
Jock Stein – 29
Pat Stanton – 31
Paul Hartley – 30.
Barry Robson 29
some guy called Lubo – 33
and a european cup winner came from of all places Houston Texas – Bobby Lennox 35